Grungy Details

I got a call from my friend, who reads this blog all the time. Her question was, “So how are you really doing?”

I guess that’s not as evident as I thought. I try to keep my blog interesting, and admittedly a lot in my life is not very interesting, but I also try to be honest. What you see is what you get. Well, pretty much, I do leave some of the grungy details out.

So here are some details.

I feed the baby pigeons twice a day. It’s not hard, but it’s messy. Pigeon babies poo a lot, and in nature this works well for them. The parents don’t waste much time building a nest. A few sticks on a ledge. The eggs are more pointed at one end. If they’re jostled, they will roll in a circle and stay on the ledge. When the babies hatch, they stay in one small area and build a nest of poo around themselves. The poo is very sticky, it makes great building material. And – this is very handy and I wish human babies had this talent – the poo that sticks to everything else does NOT stick to the baby pigeons.

OK, that’s great in nature. In my kitchen it’s another matter entirely. I have the babies in a plastic container, and they can’t poo over the edge of it. So I have to clean it twice a day when I feed them. That means feeding them in the morning before I get dressed for work, and in the afternoon when I get home and change out of my work clothes. I don’t prefer to change clothes any more than I have to. It reminds me that my arms and fingers don’t work as well as I’d like. It’s annoying.

But the babies are doing well. Their plastic bowl is inside a cage that I leave on the front porch all day and bring in at night. When they’re old enough I’ll transfer them to a more secure cage outside. In the meantime, it takes an hour or so out of my day and a little more work to keep the house tidy. While I enjoy the pigeons, it’s annoying that they weren’t left to grow up with their parents.

The pigeons aren’t the only untidy factor in the house. The cats are warring again. They don’t fight outright, they’re just neurotic and annoying. Velcro moved back onto the back porch about 2 weeks ago and will not come into the house, not even for tuna. When we open a can of it, she sits on the back porch and wails. She has parked herself behind the dryer where she evidently thinks the other cats can’t find her (the other cats don’t care where she is). The concrete floor behind the dryer was too hard, so Velcro scratched the insulation off the wall and has made herself a nest of it.

How, you ask, did she get to the insulation? John put it up 3 years ago when he started the back porch improvement project. He bought sheetrock but didn’t put it up before he moved out. The sheetrock has been in the carport all this time. It’s probably ruined by now, but that’s OK. Bob bought too much sheetrock for the gameroom project. That could be used on the back porch. Well, except it’s sitting outside too. And if it rains at all, it will be ruined also. None of this is life threatening, obviously. It’s just annoying times 3.

Charley and George appear to get along. They lick each other and wrestle sometimes, but Charley does not really like sharing his house and his Bob. He shows his dislike by peeing on things like couch pillows, or maybe blankets that someone has left on the floor after a sleepover. Last weekend I spent both days washing couch cushions and the extra blankets and spraying a whole bottle of Nature’s Remedy around the house. I haven’t decided which is the most annoying part of this. 1. That someone dumped George at my house and upset the whole balance of things, prompting formerly well-behaved animals to take up antisocial behavior. 2. That Charley has taken up antisocial behavior. 3. That the guys leave things around for Charley to pee on. Of course I don’t just observe these things, I bitch about them a lot. That’s 4. I’d rather not have to bitch all the time about things that annoy me.

I’m considering having Bob pull the old ratty cat pen back near the house and putting Charley and Velcro out all day. Sort of like breaking a hen up from her setting habit. If they are given a new set of problems, maybe being in the house will seem better to them.

These are the other most common annoyances: dishes in the sink, somebody used the good towels, and stuff left lying around. Parents around the world, perhaps especially mothers, will know exactly what I’m talking about. Oh, I have one more thing that is personal, just my own thing, I hate it when someone moves my sprinkler, or even worse unhooks the hose from the sprinkler and drags it somewhere else then doesn’t put it back. This happens at least twice a week.

OK, that’s it. See, I’m doing pretty well actually, I have daily annoyances but no big problems that I know of. Is anyone really doing any better than that?

Now for some good parts. There are good parts that I don’t always get around to mentioning on my blog.

First, even though they’re not always tidy, I really, really enjoy having Bob’s buddies around. The gameroom seems to be working well. If Bob can finish insulating it and put the ceiling in, it should continue to work well this autumn and winter. He’s done a good job so far, I’m proud of him.

Bob’s cousin Joe has been working at the corn stand this summer and has been staying a few nights a week. It’s been fun watching the guys do things together, and I enjoy the long philosophical conversations about religion, society, fractals - things the ladies at work don’t talk about.

Yesterday when I got home, the guys were throwing things together for an impromptu camping trip at the ocean. They had a bag of food: marshmallows, tomatoes, sardines, chocolate, and crackers. Bob doesn’t have a sleeping bag (that he can find) so he just took the blankets off his bed to go camping in the sand. He couldn’t find a tarp, either. They were talking about the gorilla suit. I’m not sure if they actually took it with them. They left the house after dark. Neither of them had ever driven to Dillon’s Beach, but hey! They had a Google map, what could go wrong?

Earlier in the afternoon, Bob had been watching a program on his computer while Joe ran home to gather his camping gear. It was a program about paranormal happenings in California, about ghosts. Near the end of it I said, “Isn’t it pretty dumb to watch a scary program just before you go camping in a strange place?” Bob said, “This is all about ghosts in people’s houses.” Just then the screen showed a man walking on a beach at sunset and the narrator said, “So next time you’re walking on a lonely beach in California, you might feel like you’re been watched by something unseen.” I pretty much laughed myself silly. So did Bob, he’s always a good sport.

The garden is doing great. I get a huge tub of tomatoes every week and a bouquet of flowers to take to work. There are lots of little frogs and baby lizards everywhere. This is because, just before Trudy left her nest in the back of the red truck, I had Bob catch her. I sent her to live on a ranch in Wilton where the fellow has 3 male peacocks and no females. I miss her, but I’m relieved not to have to worry about her constantly.

The horses and the goat are fine. The pasture never got mowed this year and it’s a mess. The horses don’t care. I mostly have my reading glasses on and can’t see that far, so I decided not to care either.

There are still some projects around the place to take care of. My truck is STILL at the Wilton Garage. It’s going on 4 years now. Is there a Guiness category for this? I think we’re going for the record. The pump situation needs to be improved, we’re using a huge irrigation pump for household use. The tank needs to be replaced and the pressure system revamped. Mostly I’m doing research so I can be sure of the best solution.

My Toyota Rav4 is still wonderful, I ADORE it. The Kindle from Amazon is wonderful, I can’t believe how long the battery lasts (3 weeks) between charges. I have 46 books on it now, books that aren’t cluttering up my house. I wish the iPhone battery lasted this long, and it probably would last longer if I weren’t online on it all the time. I haven’t actually used it as a phone yet. I did get a call a couple of days ago. By the time I figured out it was a phone – and mine! – that was making the weird noise, I lost the call. Sorry folks, if you really need to get in touch with me, please send me an email. I am such a klutz with phones.

As we head towards fall I usually get grumpy. The days are getting shorter. I prefer long days. We’re heading toward the rainy season, the levee is always a concern. Things need to be tucked away for the winter. The wood shed has already been taken care of, though. Joe reorganized it for me last month and did a great job. And there is a new sidewalk between the wood shed and the wood box. It should be much easier hauling wood in my yellow wagon this winter.

See – not much of this is very interesting, but now you have the REST of the story.

The Tubby Doves Wave "Hi"

...to all you bird fanciers out there.

I love having these two around. Can't figure out why there aren't more by now, though.

Feeding Baby Birds

Even dummies can raise pigeons. That's why I've done pretty well with them over the years.

Kip asked about feeding baby birds. I started doing this seriously in 1984. I found a nest that had blown down after a wind storm. It had 3 babies in it: 2 dead blackbirds and one that was alive and hungry and didn't care who wanted to feed it as long as someone did. It turned out to be a cowbird. And don't start on me about cowbirds being predators. I had Bo Peep (my mom named him) for 11 years and he never bothered anyone.

Anyway, cowbirds are fairly easy because not knowing who their parents will be, they are equipped to eat anything. I forget what my mother and I served Bo, but he thrived. A few years later Bob and I took classes at Wildlife Care and volunteered there for 3 years. If you really want to take care of baby birds, this is the thing to do. You'll learn the right way and have the papers to prove that it's OK for you to be doing it. You'll also gain an appreciation for just how hard bird parents have to work to keep those babies fed.

A good basic recipe for baby birds is to mix hard-cooked egg yolk with dampened kitten chow. You can feed it to small babies with the wide end of a flat toothpick. Another way is to keep a container of Kaytee Exact in the freezer. This is a powdered feed that is used for baby parrots. It's easy to mix up on demand. It works very well for pigeons, and is what I use.

For pigeons I have a small syringe with about 3 inches of soft tubing on the end of it. You use a fingernail to open the baby's beak, insert the tubing down into the crop, and deposit the warm mush. It is a bit intimidating to learn how to do this, a lot of people who raise pigeons don't even know, but Bob and I had lots of practice and baby pigeons are very accommodating. The main problem is the babies seem to have to be at least 5 days old before they can digest anything besides the "pigeon milk" they get from their parents.

When the baby pigeons are a couple of weeks old and start to get feathers, I start pushing solid food down them, in addition to the mush. Popcorn, lentils, dried peas, barley, even parakeet or canary seed work fine. I give them some fine gravel also. You just open the beak with your fingernail and pop the seeds down their throat. It helps sometimes to stretch their necks up a bit so the food rolls right down.

Pigeons have such a large crop that by the time they're as large as the babies I have now, they can be stuffed in the morning and won't need feeding again until the afternoon. If I didn't have cats (specifically Charley the bird hunter) I'd just leave the babies in the house in an open box. They won't go anywhere until they almost look like adults.

Other baby birds that are easy to care for are jays and robins. Jays are NOISY though, and it's hard to get them to assimilate back into nature once they've learned where the groceries come from. And robins don't seem to know when they're full. You can get them so fat they can't get off the ground.

My personal favorite is the house finch.

Do not get into the baby bird feeding business, though, without some training. It's tricky knowing what kind of bird you have and, therefore, what kind of food it will need to grow up with strong enough bones so it can fly. Some birds are strictly seed eaters, and some prefer insects. You can end up with a very sad mess if you don't have training and backup from experienced bird people.

It's OK, though, to care for a baby until you can get it to a place like Wildlife Care (the association name in Sacramento County). If you find one and don't see a nest to put it back into (the parents will NOT leave it just because you touch it), make a temporary nest out of tissues and a plastic strawberry basket. If the baby is feathered and you saw it fluttering around, put your cat or dog in the house and leave the baby where it is. The parents know it's there. Some birds fledge early and flutter around in the bushes for a couple of days before they actually fly.

A baby without feathers, though, needs to be in its own nest or one you have made. You can offer the baby a drop of water from the end of your finger. If you have cat food, moisten a piece of it and make a mush that you can give the baby from the flat end of the toothpick. A couple of very small pieces will be enough. Then take it to Wildlife Care.

There are some kinds of birds in California that you can raise without a permit. I believe these are pigeons and starlings.

Wildlife Care in Sacramento has a facility out toward McClellan Field, I think. You can volunteer to work there, even a couple of hours a week will help them and you'll learn a LOT. People who raise chickens can even profit from some of the classes they offer, on subjects like medicating and rehabbing birds.

When you start working with wild birds, you'll be amazed at how smart and resourceful they are.

Rooster Laws, Revisited

Remember a month or so ago when some of us chicken show people were protesting the attempt by Sacramento County to force us to get a license to raise roosters because SOME people in the county raise them for cockfights? Well, I just copied this from a Connecticut newspaper online.

Cops raid alleged canary-fighting ring

By STAFF REPORTS
Updated: 07/26/2009 06:14:27 PM EDT

SHELTON -- More than 150 canaries and saffron finches that police say were being primed for bird fighting in a Ripton Road home Sunday morning have been confiscated, and nearly 20 people charged in connection with the incident. Local and state police entered the single-family home at 176 Ripton Road about 9:30 a.m., where they said the occupants were preparing the birds to fight, police said.

About $8,000 in cash was also seized during the raid, police said.

Nineteen people were arrested, police said. Their identities and the charges were not immediately released. The stretch of Ripton Road between Dogwood Drive and Quaker Ridge Road has been closed most of the day while the birds were taken away and the investigation continues.

The birds were placed in large cages and transported by several animal control vans to another location, police said.

Canaries, which have a general reputation for being sweet songbirds, are known to fight with each other, particularly during the breeding season, according to experts on several websites. Males can be particularly aggressive, they indicate. Neighbors in the area expressed surprise about the bird-fighting raid, and said they had no idea that the alleged activity may have been taking place in the house.

Shelton police received assistance from the State Police Major Crime Squad, the Central District Major Crime Squad, the State Department of Agriculture and police in Bridgeport, Ansonia and Fairfield.
........................

It's just like what we told the Board of Supervisors, there is a surplus of idiots in the world. Go deal with them and leave the rest of us out of it. Today they want to register rooster raisers, tomorrow it will be little old ladies who keep a canary. And none of it will affect what the idiots are doing.

iPhone, Shower Guest & Pigeons

I turned in my office cell phone (have been trying to get them to take it back for 2 years) and got my own iPhone. I LOVE the iPhone, but here is the result of trying to deal with AT&T to get it up and running.


Jonathan stopped by last night and got everything straightened out. What would we do without him? Well I, for one, would pull out all the hair I have left.

Jon stayed for the party last night. This morning he was on the living room floor, along with a few others.


Please note: Jon brings his own stuff, a first class air mattress and sleeping bag. Some of the others were not as well prepared, but they were responsible and stayed here, I appreciate that.

But when was the last time you found a man sleeping in your shower? When I went into the bathroom this a.m., I saw polished black shoes peeping from behind the shower curtain. They were attached to a man wearing a red shirt, black slacks and necktie. I'm not going to tell you who it was, I wouldn't mind embarassing him, it's his mom I'm thinking about.

I have a new project that I'm not thrilled about. Some guys orphaned these baby pigeons and I've ended up with them.


It would have been much easier if they'd given me the parents along with the babies, and if the babies hadn't been setting out all day. The smallest one survived for two days, but was just too young to make it. The other two will be fine. Fostering pigeons is fairly easy. I'm taking them to work with me for a few days but then I'll be able to leave them at home during the day. It's not the babies I'm unhappy with, it's the idiots who orphaned them unnecessarily,

IKEA

I hobbled through an Ikea store for the first time yesterday. Bob and I went, searching for a replacement to the dining room table that has been moved to the game room. Its last stop before the dump.

We found a table and some chairs. It was an interesting experience. The first thing is the store isn't laid out like a furniture store, it's more like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. When I went to see Paul McCartney in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, I wasn't walking well. It was frustrating to be routed all over the casino just to get to the concert hall. They wanted you to walk past every slot machine and gaming table in the place, so the trail made big curves. More like a route Goldilocks might take through the woods to get to Grandma's house.

Ikea is the same way, except there are dividing walls to maneuver around also. Before you see the kitchen tables, you are guided past the living room stuff and the bathroom stuff and the kid stuff. Luckily I took a cane. It was a very long walk.

Another weird thing about Ikea is that the furniture has names. The chairs I bought are named Herman. I suppose I should follow Michael Jackson's example and call them Herman I, Herman 2, etc. I forget the table's name, it was something more elegant, even though it's a very simple table.

Like a casino, Ikea has a restaurant. And a snack bar. Outside the store there was a big sign that said Breakfast $1, Lunch $2, Dinner $3. Cheap food, just like in Vegas. I'm not sure I understand why a person would dine in a furniture store. It's not like you can take your food out of the restaurant section and actually go sit at the table you're considering buying, to try it out. Or take your kids and their snacks to a couch to see how it resists pizza stains.

Overall it was a decent experience. Just strange. Maybe foreign would be a better word.

A Hot Time in Las Vegas

Where do you go when the temperature is hot and nasty in Sacramento? Bob and his buddies went to Las Vegas, where it’s really hot. Bob and Jon went with Kyle and another friend to celebrate Kyle’s graduation from SF State. The picture above is Kyle, on Fremont Street. All these photos were taken on Kyle's iPhone.

Here is Bob with some local babes.


Of all the things you might imagine that a bunch of young men would find to do in the capital of sin, this probably isn't one of them. Bob’s moment of madness involved trying to eat a 6 lb, 24 inch burrito at the Nascar restaurant. (Well, gluttony is a sin I think.)


If you finish this thing, Bob said, you don’t have to pay for it. Kyle said Bob had a small audience rooting him on, but only 3 people have ever finished it. Bob’s not one of them.


This is what the losers get - a T-shirt.


Bob had to pay $20 for the burrito, but he said he took the leftovers and ate them for the next couple of days, so it was economical.

Another activity you don't associate with Las Vegas is target shooting with machine guns. Jon practices with a target of Osama Bin Laden.


Kyle, who is probably more experienced with a paintball gun.


They had a good trip and came home worn out.

Revisiting Math Hell

Why do my equations have little boxes where the spaces should be?

I'm working on a math document in InDesign, using MathMagic. I've done this a lot. It's torture. But now I have newer versions of the software and a bunch of new problems. I like a challenge. This is not a challenge, it is an annoying pain in the patoot.

I ask this question several times a day - who really NEEDS math, anyway?

I'd show you the equation that doesn't work, but it won't import. Just another handy feature.

Very Corny

Things on the old farm are really hopping today. It's the First Annual Corn Festival. The place is all set up for a party, with jumping houses for the kids, a live band, and lots of crafts booths. The flowers are just perfect, thanks to Cristobal's care. Half the neighborhood is working out there today and tomorrow. Following are photos I took this a.m. when things were just getting started.





There is quite an assortment of bird houses, here are only two:




This is what Davis Ranch is famous for, lots of great vegetables grown right here, especially the sweet corn.






A Wilton boy, and formerly one of my 4-H poultry project kids, Paul.



Also on hand is the author of several books about the history of our area.


Come on out if you've nothing else to do, there's lots of shade and picnic tables, you'll probably see someone you know.

Happy BD Cap'n P

The gang threw a party for the Captain’s birthday. Chicken had a lot of extra eggs so she made an angel food cake. She used Marta’s award-winning recipe, without the chocolate. Wonder Woman did the decorations and brought the Captain a gift certificate for flute lessons. The Captain really loved his gift from Hotei the best. A skateboard!

Captain P. blew out the candles, then everyone had cake and punch and partied the night away.


Captain might have had a bit too much punch.

Gifts from the Garden

Every Monday I bring a bouquet of flowers from my garden for my office mate, Melanie, who took this picture. This week we're enjoying the last of the lilies, some dahlias, zinnias, and a gerbera.

Saying Thank You

Saturday a bunch of us poultry people gathered to thank someone who has been important in our lives for many years, Dr. B from UCD. She’s been a major influence on people we care about - our children. Most of my good poultry friends’ kids are grown-up now, so we have an even better perspective about how she has positively affected their lives.

Dr. B does what few of us adults do anymore, she has high expectations of kids. Not just academically. She expects them to work hard and be polite. As a 4-H poultry leader, she made my job easier. The materials and programs she provided were great, but best of all the kids would study really hard if they knew she was judging showmanship. Winning a class that she judged was a monumental achievement, like winning the Super Bowl. What they learned in Avian Bowl - not just the material, but how to study for it and how to conduct themselves gracefully in competition - will benefit them for years to come.

Dr. B teaches an Avian Science class at UC Davis. This is what one of her students wrote:

“She works you hard, don’t get me wrong. She makes sure you know the stuff; I really appreciate that. Slackers need not apply. I came out of the class, got an internship in the poultry industry, and was prepped well!”

She gives 4-H kids the same attention and opportunities she gives her students.

So we had an appreciation day for her, with a potluck lunch, some speeches, and some entertainment on a shady lawn in Wilton. The entertainment was a mock avian bowl contest. I got to read the questions to two teams of experienced bowl contestants (that means they’re getting old). (photo by Cindy)


Lauren P., who has kept score at state championship contests for many years, was our official scorekeeper as well. She really was paying attention MOST of the time. Her daughter was on one of the teams but she only doctored the score once or twice. That was OK because she IS a doctor, and because my son was on the same team. And also because the game was for fun. (photo by Cindy)


Bob Jones introduced his new project, a scholarship fund for poultry students in Dr. B’s name. This is actually Bob telling us about the program. (It looks like he’s admiring his own reflection on Richard’s head, or maybe conjuring a magic spell with a makeshift crystal ball.)


The highlight of the day was the presentation of this special belt buckle to Dr. B. It is a beautiful piece of original scrimshaw by Katherine. (And this is her photo of it.)


Dr. B was delighted to receive the buckle. Usually she’s the one awarding trophy buckles to the kids. Now that she finally has her own buckle, all she needs is a National Avian Bowl plaque. Watch for this team for next year - Bob and Dr. B. Any suggestions for a team name?

A Matter of Perspective

I ripped out a few past-season plants last weekend and got to go to Green Acres for replacements. As I came limping through their front door, one of their employees came limping up to me and said, "You look like someone who needs some help!" I asked, "What makes you think that?" Thinking, by golly, I must look handicapped or something.

"Because you limp just like I do," the man replied. And so I did.

We discovered he had the same sort of affliction, a result of an auto-immune thing. Except I'm on the way out of the 2-year cycle and he's on the way in.

He said he wouldn't use the walker they gave him. Sure, he falls down a lot, but so what? Personally I don't like falling down. But we each have our own perspective. A walker and the wheelchair worked well when I needed them. I don't want to go back that direction, for one thing they're very limiting if you have to go off the sidewalk onto dirt and rocks. So if I ever have need of a wheelchair again, THIS is what I'll get:



Yeee-hah! Watch out raccoons! With this thing and a shotgun, you're history.

Sloughhouse Corn

There are a few readers who didn't know about Sloughhouse corn. So if all my relatives and neighbors would sit back for a while, this is for the foreigners.

The farming area where I live is known as Sloughhouse. In 1850, one of the founders built a house near Deer Creek, which was then called a slough. It still gets pretty slushy around here in the winter time. It was that building, near the site of the present day Sloughhouse Inn, which gave the area its name.

There is a minute difference between Cosumne, where I live, and the greater Sloughhouse area. The difference probably meant more in the days when people had to walk from one place to another. These days it’s about 30 seconds on the highway.

There is a web site that tells a little about the history of Sloughhouse: http://www.calgoldrush.com/extra/sloughhouse.html. If you’d like to read a really good novel about the area, I’d recommend River of Red Gold, by Naida West. You can order a copy here: www.bridgehousebooks.com/

The Sloughhouse valley is a narrow alluvial floodplain with topsoil some 80 feet deep. It will grow almost anything. When I was young there were hopfields throughout the valley. Today it is famous for the sweet corn that is grown and sold at Davis Ranch, which is pretty much in my back yard. This is the web site for Davis Ranch: www.davisranchproduce.com/.

Corn season just started a couple of weeks ago. July 4 is always a big day here because people come from miles around to buy fresh corn for their holiday barbeques. These are some pictures I took on Sunday. There were too many cars on Saturday, it was too crowded to get a decent picture.

This is the corn stand from the road. You can’t see much, there are lots of big shade trees.


One of the corn fields. This is probably Jubilee, a preferred variety. They grow both yellow and white corn and try to find seed that hasn't been messed with. It's evidently getting harder to find it every year.


This is the view from out in the field, looking back at my house nestled in the trees on the right, the back of the corn stand in the middle, and the 3 gourd sheds on the right. The empty field in the foreground will soon be planted with field corn for a corn maze. Just for the record, people don't eat gourds or field corn, those are "recreational" crops.


This is the back of the gourd sheds, with hydroponic strawberries near the fence. This year the lawn was extended and a row of flowers was planted all around the fence. It’s going to be gorgeous in another month.


The whole idea of this place is for the farmers to deal directly with the public and cut out the middle man. It’s not simply about profit, the farmers like it because it gives them more quality control and more personal satisfaction. There are also some headaches. Not all of the public is fun to deal with. But so far it has worked for everyone. This place employs a LOT of local people and has given many teenagers their first job.

The flowers require a lot of hand work, and when the parking lot is full it’s hard to even see them, but I think they’re worth it, don’t you?


This is the front parking lot on a typical Sunday. The parking lot getd bigger as more activities are added. The philosophy used to be to get people in and out as quickly as possible. Now there are picnic tables and families are encouraged to sit and enjoy the countryside.


People come from a long ways to buy corn here. This car (what the heck is it?) looks European. Did someone drive from Italy to buy Sloughhouse Corn? Or maybe it's just one of those Volkswagen transformation kits. Does anyone know?

Cat Scam

George: She won’t feed us if she thinks we’re fighting. Let’s pretend we like each other.

Charlie: OK, lick my head.


George: Is she looking?

Charlie: No, this is a waste of time, get your slobber off me.


George: You taste awful, go away.

Charlie: Get outta my face, gopher breath.

End of Excursion

I hope you're not confused by now. I've been skipping around from subject to subject. This is the final report on the excursion.

When I got home everything was pretty well cleaned up. Charley the cat was passed out on the living room floor like he’d had a rough night.


Four of the guys were just finishing their clean-up chores. Devin and Bob were looking a little worn.


They were still wearing their matching beer pong uniforms. What is that on the shirts? It looks like a little blue creature (but not a Smurf) living in a red tennis shoe. What the heck does that mean? Devin and Bob claim ignorance.

The back yard worked quite well for the party. There was only one problem. What's that rectangle on the lawn?



Did everyone pee on the lawn? How did they do it so precisely? Bob said the answer was very simple, he’d been using a piece of plywood as a table top and set it on the grass to wash it off while he was cleaning up. It was only there for 15 minutes, but somehow it was hot enough to singe the grass. I guess I'll buy that.

Happy 4th

Have a cheery 4th of July. Wave those flags, pop those firecrackers, BBQ, eat Sloughhouse corn, and drink beer. Or iced tea.

I know what you’re thinking, Captain P is British, wouldn't that put him on the other side of the Declaration of Independence? Well, you’re confusing reality with fiction, silly person. The actor who portrayed Captain P on Star Trek is British. Jean-Luc was born in France (his birthday is July 13, by the way, cards can be sent in care of me, to my address). But so what? This is my blog, and eveyone here is celebrating the 4th.

Disclaimer: The Captain does not support any single nation or planet, he will celebrate all holidays in Federation territory with equal enthusiasm. Please send information and appropriate props.

Teeny-tiny costumes for today’s photo shoot inspired by Betsy Ross and created by Jan.

Excursion 4

I thought I might drive all the way to Angel’s Camp, but I was getting tired of the speeding SUVs on my tail. When I saw Milton Road, I took the opportunity to leave Hwy. 4. Almost 20 years ago I had been on this road to take pictures of a one-room schoolhouse. I was hoping to make a living as a painter then, while Bob was small, and a lady had commissioned me to paint the schoolhouse for her husband, who had attended school there. This is the picture I took way back then:


The car is the old Mercedes station wagon I drove for 13 years.

This is the photo I took on my excursion. It shows where the school USED to be.


I guess they tore it down. It wasn’t in bad shape, certainly a lot better than this mess near it that has been left standing.


There was a dirt road that led off through the hills toward Angel’s Camp. It really appealed to me. But the sign said “rough road.” And it was already over 100 degrees and I was by myself. So I passed on the opportunity this time and went back to the more civilized Milton Road.

Shortly, I came upon a turkey vulture in the middle of the road, dining on a rabbit. There was no other traffic so I stopped and when it hopped onto a fence post, I took its picture for you.


TVs have a dilemma. There’s more dead stuff on busier roads, but it’s harder to get to when there’s a steady stream of traffic. TVs don’t move very fast, and I’ve never seen one carrying anything, so they must have to grab their dinner where it lies. Whenever something gets hit on our highway at home, I ask Bob or one of the guys to pull the carcass further off the road – preferably up onto the levee – so our resident TVs can get to it easier. This does not endear me to the guys, but I hope it makes the vultures happy.

Just past Jenny Lind, which is more a location than a town, I turned toward Valley Center and immediately saw a feed store sign that said: HAY FOR SALE. Alfalfa 9.99/bale, Grass 10.99/bale, Oat 12.99/bale. Isn’t this backwards? Didn’t alfalfa used to be the most expensive? And why so much for grass hay?

I turned north again in Valley Center, to go to Ione. Pardee Dam reservoir was almost full. It’s strange, in the middle of this small, dry, foothill county, to have a big reservoir that sends water to people many miles away in San Francisco. The locals can use the water for recreation, though, so I guess that’s some small compensation.

After Ione, I decided to stop and see Julie, formerly my step sister-in-law at the ranch. It looked pretty much the same as it did when I first saw it 50 years ago, with a few new storage buildings. Julie wasn’t home, but there were lots of dogs. I counted 7 cow dogs and it sounded like there was a small dog in the house. Two of the cow dogs are ancient. Some of the oldest dogs I’ve ever seen have been at the ranch. I guess that can be attributed to good care and an active outdoor life. This old dog looks a lot like Gertie, our old Queensland Heeler who came from this ranch. Gertie died when she was 18.